As soon as I arrived in Bangsar, I headed for Sundays at BV for their Meet the Makers thingamajig.

First up, The Alphabet Press demo

Honestly, letterpress is pretty interesting and all that jazz but I’ll never be comfortable with forking out that much money for what basically results in embossed text on paper. Sorreh.

Ficus & Jars (ft. qt on the top right corner). F&J does a bunch of pretty cool succulents-in-nice-frames, the sort that you see in Snackfood-like establishments. Come to think of it, don’t they supply to Snackfood?

Anyway, would get one if they were 50% cheaper and if the office actually had any sunlight peep through.

Coolest thing about the event? Free popcorn! And not that horrible cheapo popcorn you get at the movies either, no sirree.

I had a great chat with Jun Yuen, who’s one of the masterminds behind Mossery and a really interesting guy in his own right. We talked about a bunch of stuff (which is always nice), agreed on a bunch of stuff (the Field Notes has deceptively thin paper but the coating prevents seepage but the sexily rough 100gsm paper in Mossery is the best), and I found out about a cool hidden nook to source new frames (PS he knows the Medium Rare owner).

Mossery brings in material from other countries, then assembles everything here in good ol KL. They mostly have pocket notebooks and A5 size ones (ie. typicaly Moleskine-ish), though they also have a couple of other products in their stationery range. There’s a new product launch in October (a hybrid planner and notebook) which I’m definitely looking forward to. I do a mini-review plus comparison to Field Notes later on in this post so look out for that.

And finally, I looked at a bunch of stuff by Claire Organics. They also had a DIY perfume demo, which was neat. All these handmade soaps look super cool (goat milk, minty coffee, red wine, bamboo, guinness!), had to seriously restrain myself from spending any more cash.

After that, it was back to 15 Sheets (right under Raksasa!) for some delicious craft beer. Amongst other things. Like the qt from HELP who works there.

Thoughts on the beer selection (Double Choc aside):

– Freshly-squeezed IPA from Deschutes, USA (RM27)
An amazing Indian Pale Ale that instantly hits the nose with a fantastic aroma. Very citrusy without being overtly acidic, this proved to be a surprisingly refreshing drink with an impressive depth of flavour that bloomed in the mouth. Very pricey (close to RM30?) but my favourite of the batch. Next to Double Choc, that is.

– Hop Fiction (RM29)
Brilliant packaging (though that goes for all the 6 beers on display). Anyway, there’s a much stronger back-end on this one, as compared to the Freshly-Squeezed. It tastes vaguely like a nondescript fruit juice tempered with a very mild bitterness that seeps in right before the taste fades. An interesting drink.

– Mirror Pond (RM25)
A decent American Pale Ale. Tastes rather like a sort of IPA mixed with stronger hints of malt.

– Alice Porter (RM27)
An interesting one, this. Think of it as a halfway point between a more traditional deep, rich stout and the Double Chocolate Stout. In practice, this translates to a satisfying stout with plenty of character – the coffee-like richness is coupled with the faintest hints of spice.

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout hails from Wells & Young’s in UK and carries a very deceptive name. There’s barely a trace of chocolate here – or at least the traditional dark (proper?) chocolate. It’s very sweet and light, ie. a perfect introductory stout to someone who hates/is ambivalent about them. There’s a noticeable absence of the typical chewy malt mouthfeel, and the roasted notes dissipate very quickly along with any potential bitterness.

A fantastic beer with a relatively low price of RM18. Value for days, nef

Okay so Field Notes vs Mossery.

Field Notes’ plus points:
– They have dot-graph (amongst other options) whilst Mossery only has plain and grid, with plans to expand to graph. I’m willing to admit that dot-graph is largely more noticeably a benefit in larger-sized notebooks though. Unless you’re planning on writing lots of stuff even in your pocket notebooks (like me).
– Cool af inner cover and inner back cover
– Coated pages means they handle ink leakage better despite feeling flimsy
– Slightly cheaper too with Mossery being RM14 for one and RM35 for 3

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One thought on “saturday”

I would really like to hear from anyone who has used the Mossery A5 grid, with a fountain pen.
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I have a mad love for really heavy paper in a pocket notebook, and these folks seem to be at the very top of that list!
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I’ve spent decades with Moleskine pocket books, and Field-notes wire-bound reporters. If anybody has any questions about those, be glad to help.
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IMO, Moleskine has been left in the dirt, with their pricey notebooks full of 70 gsm paper.
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It also seems that the Mossery A5 is sewn, rather than stapled, and my one experience with a stapled pocket notebook led to a great deal of cussing.
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Thanks!